All posts by Animal

So Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg missed out on opening arguments for the first time in her 26 years on the Supreme Court, due to her ongoing health issues. She’s 85. Excerpt:

Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said the 85-year-old justice is continuing to recuperate and work from home after doctors removed two cancerous growths from her left lung on Dec. 21.

Ginsburg was discharged from a New York hospital on Dec. 25.

Chief Justice John Roberts said in the courtroom Monday that Ginsburg would participate in deciding the argued cases “on the basis of the briefs and transcripts of oral arguments.”

Ginsburg had two earlier cancer surgeries in 1999 and 2009 that did not cause her to miss court sessions. She also has broken ribs on at least two occasions.

The court said doctors found the growths on Ginsburg’s lung when she was being treated for fractured ribs she suffered in a fall at her office on Nov. 7.

After past health scares, Ginsburg has come back to work relatively quickly. In 2009, she was at the court for arguments on Feb. 23, 18 days after surgery for pancreatic cancer.

Ginsburg, one of the Court’s liberals, has been in declining health for a while now. While she certainly has our sympathies, it’s painfully obvious that she’s hanging on by her fingernails because she doesn’t want President Trump to name her replacement.

Think about that. She is reducing the effectiveness of the Court for political reasons.

Here’s the thing: The Supreme Court should not be a partisan body. In an ideal world, it wouldn’t be. But this isn’t an ideal world, and there is a huge ideological chasm between judges President Trump nominates for the Court and the ones Her Imperial Majesty Hillary I would have nominated.

That’s the main reason I voted for President Trump, incidentally, and from conversations I’ve had with conservatives and libertarians, I’ve got a fair amount of company there.

But enough is enough. It’s time for Justice Ginsburg to hang it up. Her family would thank her for it, and the country should thank her for it (although many on the left won’t.) She has had a long and distinguished career, but it’s time. Retire, Justice Ginsburg. It’s time.

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We’ve been kicking this idea around for a while now, but here’s another take on it from The Washington Times’ Stephen Moore. Excerpt:

Houston, we have a problem. The federal government is losing the consent of the governed.

Could this red state-blue state America end in violence and uprising if one side feels hopelessly aggrieved by the tyranny of the majority of the other side? We know, regrettably, from history that it can.

How do we head this off? Two ideas need to be pursued.

The most practical solution is a reinvigorated emphasis on federalism — a political movement that takes ever-expanding power away from the federal government and restores the sovereignty and home rule of the states. That way Americans can self-select to live under the laws they agree with but within the context of the legal protections of U.S. citizens embedded in the U.S. Constitution.

If you want drugs legalized, government-run health care, abortion on demand and an end to fossil fuels, move to California. If you want low taxes, right-to-work laws, prayer in school, move to Alabama. This mitigates the tyranny of the federal government and is much in the intent of our Founding Fathers.

If this doesn’t work, America may need to consider a Brexit option. One of the flaws of the U.S. Constitution is that it never set forth terms of legal separation. Perhaps that needs to be fixed with a constitutional amendment that allows a state to leave the union if some super-majority of the citizens of that state want to opt out. As long as the states remained as a free-trade zone and perhaps agreed to a common currency (like the euro) the economic costs would be small.

Some may view this as an un-American and even treasonous idea. No. Offering states an exit option would force the majority of states to be more attentive to the grievances of the minority and would help resolve conflicts and could save the union from dissolution.

I don’t know as it would save the union from dissolution; not at all. Why not? Well, there are a couple of reasons.

First, the red/blue divide of the states isn’t as geographically coherent as the North/South divide in 1861. You have New England and the Atlantic Seaboard, Illinois and a few other parts of the upper Midwest and the Left Coast, Nevada and Colorado in the deep-blue column. The rest of the country is either red or purple, and I have little doubt that if a “USexit” was in the cards, plenty of folks would vote with their feet to either join or flee the seceding states, thus making the divide even greater.

Second, there would be a tipping point at which the Imperial city wouldn’t be able to hold things together. If, say, twenty of fifty states bailed – the aforementioned above plus, say, Alaska and Hawaii – I think you’d hit a point of no return where residents of the remaining states would start looking closer to home for resolutions of their distributed interests. The result of that would probably be several loose regional coalitions of states – several versions of something more like the Articles of Confederation in the red states, something more along the lines of pure democracy in the blue areas.

Either way, the United States as we know it ends at that point.

Now, Mr. Moore also advocates the more sane solution of a return to federalism. That’s my preferred action as well, but honestly, hardly anybody in either party in the Imperial City is interested in depriving themselves of what has become a truly staggering power over the citizenry.

On January 1st, the new “assault weapons” ban in the People’s Republik of Boulder took effect. Independence Institute leader and Boulder resident Jon Caldera, having previously announced his intention to do precisely that, is refusing to comply. Excerpt:

My strong belief in my Second Amendment rights is core to who I am. I know that is not understood by many today, however I am not asking to be understood. I’m asking to be left alone.

I am asking for progressives who run city government to live up to their assertion of tolerance and just let me be.

Because I own a long gun with a pistol grip and a detachable magazine, I had to the end of December to self-identify to the police, present myself for investigation and my gun for inspection, pay fees in order to receive a police-issued permission slip, all to avoid jail time, monetary penalties, and the confiscation and destruction of my gun.

I have never been convicted or even charged with a crime in my 54 years of life, but this week I became a criminal. I am no different then potentially thousands of other Boulderites who cannot bring themselves to submit to this ugliness. And yes, I know, most people today don’t see this as ugly or intolerant, but simply a reasonable thing to do about this “epidemic.” After all, something needs to be done.

For publicly stating that I will not comply, my daughter has been targeted at her Boulder school, the one with posters celebrating tolerance and diversity all over the walls. My refusal to submit has been commented on by teachers in front of their classes. She has been ganged up on by students and bullied because “her father is a murderer.” She is worried that I will be taken to jail. As a single dad to her and her handicapped brother, I have to admit I’m worried about that too.

I’ve said it before, but the four words “I Will Not Comply” are some of the most powerful words in the English language. Our own Denver suburb of Aurora has not yet given in to this nitwittery, but if they were to do so, I’d have to join Mr. Caldera and the legion of “gun toting hippies” in refusing to comply.

I can’t say as I’m optimistic about all this. Local and state governments (see New Jersey, California and Washington for recent examples) will continue passing stupid laws, and more and more people will join the ranks of those who will not comply. I’m looking for a way this can end without violence, but I’m damned if I can see one.

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OK, so the title is a bit misleading, as national treasure John Stossel explains to us that Sweden is not a socialist country, and that proponents of socialism should stop pointing it out as an example. Excerpt:

For years, I’ve heard American leftists say Sweden is proof that socialism works, that it doesn’t have to turn out as badly as the Soviet Union or Cuba or Venezuela did.

“Sweden is not socialist — because the government doesn’t own the means of production. To see that, you have to go to Venezuela or Cuba or North Korea,” says Norberg.

“We did have a period in the 1970s and 1980s when we had something that resembled socialism: a big government that taxed and spent heavily. And that’s the period in Swedish history when our economy was going south.”

Astrid Lindgren, author of the popular Pippi Longstocking children’s books, discovered that she was losing money by being popular. She had to pay a tax of 102 percent on any new book she sold.

“She wrote this angry essay about a witch who was mean and vicious — but not as vicious as the Swedish tax authorities,” says Norberg.

Sweden’s regulations on business are much less onerous than those in the United States, even after a round or two of Trump-era deregulating. Their schools, pension programs and mass-transit systems have been privatized. They do run a substantial welfare state, but they are able to do so because of their free market policies, not because of socialist ones.

1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

2a: a system of society or group living in which there is no private property

b: a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

3: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done.

None of those apply to Sweden; they do apply to Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea. They applied to the old Soviet Union and to East Germany. Now take a look at the standard of living in those places.

People who want to apply socialist policies to the United States are advocating for economic ruin, whether they realize it or not.

Here’s an extended lesson on why socialism always fails:

At the moment aspects of the U.S. economy are being dragged in the direction of socialism; you have, even in the halls of Congress, nitwits like the soon-to-be-seated Ocasio-Cortez advocating for “democratic socialism,” which is a contradiction in terms; you can’t have government control of an economy and any level of citizen control over government at the same time.

It would be damned nice if our elected leaders employees had the same level of economic understanding as Mr. Stossel.

Consider her own words — the statement that will launch a thousand tweets, and that’s just from POTUS.

She wants Americans “to be able to work hard, play by the same set of rules …”

Is a white honky cracker ofay silver-spoon WASP from the ultra-exclusive 02138 zip code claiming to be a “Cherokee” to grab two tenured affirmative-action Ivy League professorships “playing by the same set of rules” as everybody else?

“America’s middle class is under attack … (Government) has become a tool for the wealthy and well-connected.”

This, from a fake Indian who was paid $350,000 to teach one class at Harvard Law School. Who got a zero-interest loan from Harvard to buy her $3-million mansion on Linnaean Street in Cambridge. Who in her first campaign exhorted her supporters to talk her up with the people “standing behind you at the cheese shop.” Who, when asked by a slobbering acolyte on MSNBC if she owned stock, replied, “No, only mutual funds.”

The video includes what one of her fanzines described as “images of a woman’s march.” The one she took part in with rabid anti-Semite Linda Sarsour, perhaps?

Somehow I seem to have been excised from her email list, but the stories say she asked her followers to tell her why she should run.

Well, as it happens, I have some thoughts on why Senator Spreading Bull should run:

Make the rest of the Democrat candidates look reasonable (well, except for Kamala Harris, and Cory Booker, and that daffy old Socialist from Vermont, and… what was I saying again?)

The campaign could save money by rerunning old Hillary campaign planks, such as “I have a vagina” and “it’s my turn, peasants!”

Could garner nostalgia points by campaigning with Clayton Moore.

Give economic advisers their first chance to bring out budget deficit projections in tens of trillions.

Seriously, I hope she goes for it. A Warren candidacy should be roundly entertaining; even now, in the White House, I suspect the President is already chuckling in amusement and planning his Twitter campaign.

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Well, sort of. I’m not certain how hump day works when this Mittwoch is also basically this week’s Monday. Regardless, let’s move along. First up, thanks once again to The Other McCain for our first 2019 Rule Five links!

So let’s look at some 2018 highlights:

Here from PJMedia are the 20 Worst Quotes of 2018. My favorite: “Almost every single person I’ve ever heard of with an AR-15 has been a mass murderer.” — Author Nina Burleigh. There are, best guess, somewhere between 10 and 20 million AR-pattern rifles in the United States. Since we can only conclude that there have not been between 10 and 20 million mass murders, we can only assume that “Author” Nina Burleigh is a hyperbolic horse’s ass.

Speaking of horseshit: “Psychic” Nikki, whoever that is, has some predictions for 2019. As is normally the case with this kind of crap, her “predictions” are so vague as to be meaningless. Except this one: And if we can’t find someone on this planet to be nice to, perhaps someone from somewhere else will come into our lives. “…You’re going to hear more voices coming from outer space.” And not just voices, either. Psychic Nikki is certain of that. “We’re going to see more UFOs coming to earth… I wouldn’t be surprised if a spaceship landed by the end of 2019, 2020 for sure. I don’t think it’s going to be anything to be scared of. I just think there’s another planet like us out there.”

I can make a prediction too: This won’t happen. But the kind of nitwits that pay attention to “psychics” don’t notice when they’re wrong.

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Not really a true-Blue Monday, because it’s New Year’s Eve, and plenty of folks are still off work. But not our friends at Pirate’s Cove who are still favoring us with Rule Five links!

2018 wasn’t one of our best years. Business was slow, with a several-month dry spell over the summer. And we had a couple of losses in the family, primary of which was my Dad, the finest man I’ve ever encountered.

But 2019 is here now, and I’ve always been the sort to look ahead, not back. Mrs. Animal and I already have some plans for the year which will in time be chronicled here.

In the meantime, thanks for reading! I’ve always said that I keep this blog up mostly for my own amusement, but that doesn’t mean I lack appreciation for all you True Believers who come here to read every day (and, I’m sure, to once in a while look at some pretty girls.)

So, thanks! May 2019 be a good year for you all: Healthy, happy and profitable!